The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-15

seasons and their productions are sub
ject to law, and none the less is man,
his birth, life and death, according to
law. And because of the fixedness of
these great facts we have come to reason
that there is no room for prayer-and
there is none if we propose by prayer to
change the established order of the uni
verse. When we ask, what is law, and
how is it supported find that we
are talking of that which we cannot
comprehend-and for aught we know
to the contrary, we may minister to
law as certainly as law ministers to us.
This seems to be true as we consider
some phases of life.
Let us take for instance the law of
love, for love has law, and yet who
ever loved strictly in accordance with a
law, that is, in Difference to set princi-
pies that we do not presume to sway?
If you love, and desire to be loved in
return, you will upconsciously call into
use power within you Of which you
were never fully aware till you needed it.
The best reserve forces in the soul are
touched and inspired, and a thousand
little messages of greeting are sent out
from your inner sanctuary, by as many
invisible lines of communication, and
instantly you feel a response. Your
soul receives thrill, whence you know
not. Now, had you any power with that
which you call law? Certainly, as GER
tainly as when with skilled fingers you
touch the insensate chords of the harp.
The soul cultured in music is the invis-
ible power that makes the melody. Yet
there is a law of music that must be
observed. Without the soul the law is
cold and arbitrary, without the law
the soul is silent-the two in unison
make music. Spirit is the complement
Of law, and wherever you find one there
must be the other also. 1t is the prov
ince of science to discover law, it is the
province of religion to reveal the spirit.
With the knowledge only that law ex-
lists, and is infexible, we are no nearer
to an understanding of life and its re-
lations, than the child, with the fact
before it, that the stars shine in the
heavens, is to an understanding of as
tronomy. OF the great law of attrac-
ton by which these whirling bodies are
kept in place he knows nothing. AS
little do we know of the attraction in
spiritual circles, if we think the uni
verse is governed alone by unconscious
law.
For time it seemed that science
menaced religion by declaring that there
was no room for God, or need of prayer,
but now it is recognizing (not the idol
which old theology long ago made and
tried to Worship, but moral, conscious
force back of all things, spirit Or prin-
ciple which is the moving power in the
universe. Science sees, too, that this
infinite, eternal force is urging man.
kind along paths of righteousness, re-
warding purity with happiness and
attracting the human mind to realms
undiscovered by cold philosophy. While
science has been making its weary way
to these facts, the spirit, guided by
intuition, has taken higher flights and
reached faith that inspires the heart
with untold joy. 1t says the eye can
not see all-the hands cannot touch all
reason cannot discover all, but the
spirit finds something it calls Cod
Father, benign, brooding, inspiring,
protecting presence. 1t says, too, by
needing the calls of this divine power,
yielding to its attraction, life is sweet
ened, enlarged and purified, the moral
tides rise higher and sweep away the
debris Of carnality. Have not these
revelations of the spirit as high author
ity as the revelations of nature made by
science ? The mightiest forces in the
universe are invisible, unsearchable and
This is all we can say Of the spirit
ual realm and spiritual nature. They
are beyond the full comprehension.
Then, if spirit is as much a reality as
law, why may we not connect our souls
with the divine influence and be ele-
waited by it9 Why may we not utilize
these subtle forces and receive the ben
eft2 1t should not be our aim to pros
titute the spiritual by prayer, or any
means to advance the ends of the car
nal nature. 1t would be foolish to call
upon the element of love, so exquisitely
into our finer nature, to
prove its existence by coming forth and
running an engine, or to demand of
steam or electricity song of faith, or
sermon of power that would prove pen
1t is equally foolish to depend
upon prayer to enhance the value of
stocks, increase the harvester in any
way crafty the desires of the carnal
nature. We are not prepared to say
that prayer can never change any con-
ditiOn of the physical, neither are we
to say that it can do so. This
question is being extensively discussed
at present. There is theory extant
that spirit is supreme, and may have
entire control of the physical, and pre-
veityoung and healthy withoutlimit.